Release of The Drop, by Michael Connelly, published by Editions Calmann-Lévy

The Drop – Michael Connelly
Calmann-Lévy

Translated from the US English by Robert Pépin 

Harry Bosch, a police inspector handling still-open cases, picks up a three-year reprieve on the verge of his retirement when he is put in charge of a cold case going back to 1989.Rape followed by murder, DNA, previous criminal convictions and psychological profile – everything incriminates a certain Clayton Pell. But the suspect was only eight years old when the crimes were committed. Is this a lab error or an unforgivable mistake by two inspectors from the unit? The consequences of this shambles would appear to be colossal, and Bosch is immediately pulled deep into the inquiry when he is called to a crime scene. A man has thrown himself from the seventh floor of the Château Marmont, a very large Los Angeles hotel. The victim, George Irving, is the son of a very powerful local councillor in Los Angeles, a man who has spent a large part of his career trying to destroy Harry Bosch. Why does the father demand that Bosch himself be the one to investigate his son’s death?

Two plots run in parallel, one revealing the corruption and scheming of politicians obsessed with profit, the other the monstrous behaviour of sexual predators who will stop at nothing to reproduce the horrors they suffered in their own childhood.

The constant switching back and forth between these two plots provides a powerful, spine-chilling vision of Los Angeles.

The Drop – Michael Connelly
Collection Robert Pépin presents
No. of pages 396
Retail price €21.50

The Fifth Witness – Michael Connelly
Livre de Poche

Abandoned by her husband, Lisa Trammel can no longer make her monthly mortgage payments, and Westland National Bank is threatening to seize her house. Lisa is so disgusted at the epidemic of foreclosures linked to the subprime mortgage crisis that she demonstrates often and fiercely in front of the bank. Her lawyer, Mickey Haller, hopes to gain time by drawing out the proceedings. But the plot thickens when Mitchell Bondurant, a senior Westland executive, is found dead in his office car park. Lisa is accused of murder. As he mounts a very risky defence, Haller discovers some elements that lead him to doubt his client and himself, right up to the verdict. This great detective novel is interwoven with the subprime mortgage crisis, the disastrous consequences of which continue to be felt in the USA and throughout the world.

The Fifth Witness – Michael Connelly
648 pages
Publication date: 30/04/2014
Price including VAT: €8.60